Various
Swave Villi Us (Independent Soul 1971-84)

Smooth jazz release from Ralph McDonald featuring all-time greats Bill Withers, Stave Gadd, Grover Washington Jnr, and Eric Gale. At the time it was the highest-selling jazz album - ever!

MAJOR TIP! 17 varied re-works of classic Funkadelic cuts from Detroit's top producers across three slabs of wax... Highlights come thick and fast, from the deep house/P-funk fusion of Alton Miller's take on "Get Your Ass Off and Jam" and Andres' loose, hip-hop influenced revision of "Music For My Mother", to the thrusting loops and heady late-night hypnotism of Anthony Shake Shakir and T-Dancer's version of "Standing on the Verge". While many of the versions stay relatively faithful to the original, the more "out-there" interpretations - see BMG's outer-space ambient dub of "Maggot Brain" and Moodymann's epic revision of "Cosmic Slop" - are also consistently impressive. Yesss to this!

Initially released in 1982, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley's sophomore album is now regarded as a boogie-era Highlife classic. Long out of press, the album features the Ghanaian star brilliantly joining the dots between disco-funk, jazz-funk, intoxicating slow jams, calypso, dub reggae and his beloved highlife. Highlights come thick and fast throughout, with standouts including heavy percussion jam "Simigwa", the boogie-dub skank of "Adwoa", the down-low grooves of "Walking Down The Street" and the killer disco highlife anthem "It's Highlife". Simply essential.

Sydney-based label Planet Trip lock in with Lord Echo drummer Cory Champion (Borrowed CS on this release) for four biggies. As you'd expect, it's full of tight and diverse percussive rhythms. It's jackin', woozy, synth-heavy heaven for the club or a late-night drive. Limited 300 copies, no repress!